Stuff the School Bus collecting supplies

Project to help needy students

By Dan Barker

Times News Editor

Posted:
07/19/2014 07:04:24 AM MDT

Jacee Pilkington, Miss Nebraska 2013, posts a flier about the Stuff the School Bus project in Fort Morgan. She is helping to collect school supplies for needy children in the area. (Dan Barker/ Fort Morgan Times)

Miss Nebraska 2013, Jacee Pilkington of Scottsbluff, Neb., went around Fort Morgan this week to publicize the Stuff the School Bus project.

The idea is to collect school supplies for local needy children, she said.

This project actually began in Nebraksa, under the sponsorship of the United Way in the areas where it happens, Pilkington said, and has run for quite a few years.

"We're trying to bring it to Fort Morgan," she said.

A big yellow school bus will be parked at Wolf Auto Center in Fort Morgan from Monday, July 21 to Friday, Aug. 1, so it should be hard to miss, Pilkington said.

Morgan County residents are invited to drop off school supplies there, such as pencils, pens, notebook paper, tissues, rulers and backpacks.

All of the supplies will go to local children, Pilkington said.

She said she hopes people will be enthusiastic about the project and donate supplies generously.

Every community has children who need help with school supplies, and the organizers of Stuff the School Bus did not want the project to just stay in Nebraska, Pilkington said.

Pilkington is also an operations employee for Wolf Auto, and says this will be the first of many events the company will sponsor in support of the community.

If Wolf Auto can help out some kids, it makes the effort worth it, she said.

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Some people buy backpacks and fill them with supplies to take to the school bus — but any items are welcome. If someone has some notebooks laying around the house unused, he or she should bring it to the parking lot at Wolf Auto on West Platte Avenue.

Pilkington spent Wednesday dropping off fliers around the city to get the public's attention, she said.

Stuff the School Bus has been a "big deal" in Scottsbluff, and she hopes it will be popular in Fort Morgan, too.

School buses for the project will be at all Wolf Auto locations in Fort Morgan, Sterling and Nebraska, Pilkington said. Wolf Auto in Holyoke will also accept donations, although it may not have a school bus.

The Fort Morgan School District was kind enough to supply a school bus for the project, she said.

As Miss Nebraska 2013, Pilkington took a year off from Doane College in eastern Nebraska to fulfill her duties.

Her travels gave her some perspective on the importance of small towns and small business for communities, she said.

She will be going back to college this fall. She is majoring in political science and business.

However, she still plans to stay involved with the Wolf Auto projects, Pilkington said.

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